London: London: A father and stepmother of a 10-year-old British Pakistani girl, who was found dead in their home, have been given life sentences for her murder in England.
Urfan Sharif, 42, and Beinash Batool, 30, were convicted of murder last week in connection with her death, in what prosecutors described as a “campaign of abuse.” The accused will serve at least 40 and 33 years, respectively, for the killing of Sara Sharif.
The girl’s uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, was also found guilty of causing or allowing the girl’s death. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
According to reports, the girl’s body was found covered in bites and bruises, with broken bones and burns caused by an electric iron and boiling water.
After the girl died, the three fled to Pakistan , where Urfan Sharif called U.K. police to say he “legally punished her, and she died,” prosecutors said. He claimed he “beat her up too much” but didn’t intend to kill her.
Police in London later went to the family’s home and discovered Sara’s body under a blanket in a bunk bed on August 10, 2023.
The three returned to Britain more than a month after they fled and were arrested on suspicion of murder.
The trial at the Central Criminal Court revealed horrific details of abuse, including more than 70 fresh injuries and many older ones, It raised questions about the failures of social services and authorities to intervene and protect her.
Politicians and other officials have called for a review of what went wrong and urged reforms to prevent similar cases in the future.
“Her death is a heartbreaking reminder of the profound weaknesses in our child protection system that, as a country, we have failed time and time again to correct,” Rachel de Souza, Children’s Commissioner for England, said in a statement after the trial. “We have been here before — and each time we have said ‘never again.’”
Following the trial, family court records were released showing that Urfan Sharif and his former wife, Olga Sharif, had been on the social services’ radar three years before Sara Sharif was born.
The father and stepmother gained custody of Sara and her older brother after reports of abuse by their mother.
‘Failure of the System’?
Despite accusations that Urfan Sharif was physically abusing his children, the allegations were never tested in court.
Surrey County Council, which had raised repeated concerns that Sara was likely to be physically and emotionally abused by her parents, plans to review the circumstances of her death. Child services had investigated after Sara’s school reported that she was bruised, but the agency took no further action.
Her father later took her out of school to prevent authorities from discovering the abuse, the judge said. She was not schooled at home.
Olga Sharif called her daughter’s killers cowards, sadists, and executioners in a statement read by a prosecutor.
“I can’t understand how someone can be such a sadist to a child,” she said. “She is now an angel who looks down on us from heaven, she is no longer experiencing violence.”
During the trial, Sharif initially blamed Batool for Sara’s death but later told jurors he took “full responsibility.” He admitted to throttling her with his hands and battering her with a cricket bat and other objects.
The prosecution said the violence became so normalized that no one reacted when she appeared with bruises at a family barbecue.
Her parents made her wear a hijab — not for religious reasons, but to “cover up the bruises that were all over Sara’s body,” Cavanagh said.
Sara was described as feisty and dreamed of being a fairy tale princess. Her spirit came through in a video taken two days before her death, showing her dancing at home, despite multiple broken bones and iron burns on her bottom.
“Despite everything, she smiled at the camera,” the judge noted.
(Inputs from AP)
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